This post will look at what it means to be in Christ, namely the spiritual blessings that Christians have received as outlined in Ephesians 1. In a general sense, it means we have been set free from the domain of sin and Satan. Since conception we have inherited a sinful nature that cannot please God nor submit to His will, and the only way to escape that sinful nature is by the power of Christ to set us free.
That having taken place by his grace, then the believer experiences a spiritual rebirth, i.e. he is born again. The positional truth of his salvation is in Christ, in particular, is found in these blessings:
1. We have been raised to the heavenly realms with Christ (verse 3). This one is hard to grasp, as right now I don't see myself as living in the heavenly realms. I see myself living a life here on earth. When I die, then I go to heaven. We have the assurance that we go to heaven and not hell when we die. But since God is eternally past, present, and future, then our physical body lives here on earth, and our spirit lives with Christ in the heavenly realms. As such, we enjoy the blessings, resources, and power of the Holy Spirit if we choose to live in this spirit realm. Thus, eternal life starts the minute a believer accepts Christ on earth, not just when they die and go to heaven.
2. We were chosen before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless (verse 4). This verse is profound, as God knew who would be his children before he created the world. Both Genesis 1:1 and 2 Corinthians 5:17 underscore the creative work of God, and they emphasize that a born-again Christian is truly a new creation. From this, we can only conclude that God values the creation of new Christians more than the creation of the world. This is an amazing verse, actually. It also underscores how salvation is the work of God. We respond to his love, where God first loved us.
3. We were predestined to be adopted sons of God (verse 5). The verse goes on to say this pleases God. While living in the domain of the sinful nature and Satan, before knowing Christ, we were orphans, and cut off from God. He rescued us and adopted us as sons.
4. God freely gave us his glorious grace through Jesus (verse 6). As mentioned in the previous post, this shows how grace is a free gift of God, and we can do nothing to earn it. This verse alone should put to death any legalistic thinking or works-based salvation mentality. Grace may be free, but it isn't cheap, as it cost Jesus the cross.
5. We have forgiveness of sins and redemption through the blood of Jesus (verse 7). Redemption means for an owner to buy back what originally was rightfully his, but had earlier been sold off. From the context of these verses, it is clear that God originally created us when he created the world in Genesis, but we were sold off to the domain of sin and Satan. When Jesus came to die on the cross as a substitute for our sinful nature, and we accepted Christ by faith and receive his Holy Spirit to live in us, then we essentially became born-again believers. This is what redemption means. God made us, we were lost to sin, but he purchased us back through the blood of Jesus.
6. We have access to God's wisdom and understanding through his grace (verse 8). Before I was saved I thought I was pretty wise for a person in my early 20s, but human wisdom has nothing to do with God's wisdom. No matter how "wise" a person may be, we all need God's wisdom. There is another verse in Corinthians somewhere that talks about the wisdom from above and the wisdom from below.
7. The seal of the Holy Spirit. The following verses go on to show how God's Holy Spirit indwelling in believers is a down payment of what is to come when the "times have reached their fulfillment", which is something that of course I will be discussing in more detail on this blog. The context here is that Christ promised us the Holy Spirit living in us until that time, so that while we live on earth, we know that God lives in us wherever we are.
Paul's letter outlines some of the most profound blessings that a believer can experience if they put their trust in Christ. This sets the tone for the rest of the book of Ephesians.
You can see how absolutely critical it is for a believer to understand these blessings, and to appropriate them, as what it means to be in Christ. This is the foundation of the Christian identity, for the person to say these things with confidence:
-- "I know I am a child of God"
-- "I know that God loves me since before the creation of the world"
-- "I know I am raised in the heavenly realms with Christ"
-- "I know I am forgiven by the blood of Jesus."
-- "I know I am adopted into God's family."
-- "I know that the Holy Spirit lives in me and guides me in all truth."
-- "I know I have direct access to the throne of grace"
When I was younger, my family often chastised me for not knowing my earthly identity, or a clear sense of who I was in terms of personality traits. The so-called solution was to "know thyself" or to become familiar with my identity.
Self-knowledge by itself is futile, because we can't ever know ourselves if we are lost without Christ. The last few posts have indicated how lost we are without Christ, being controlled by the sinful nature and by Satan, enslaved to sin, and subject to God's wrath. Living under the power of sin, we are unable to recognize this, nor escape from this bondage. Making claims that "I am a good person, I'm not a sinner, I'm not as bad as Hitler," etc. etc. is also a sin because the Bible clearly says that if we claim we have no sin, then we make God out to be a liar.
The only identity is the identity in Christ, as outlined by the above blessings in this post.
The next post I want to move away from individualism, and focus more on our corporate identity, that of the body of believers in Christ.
That having taken place by his grace, then the believer experiences a spiritual rebirth, i.e. he is born again. The positional truth of his salvation is in Christ, in particular, is found in these blessings:
1. We have been raised to the heavenly realms with Christ (verse 3). This one is hard to grasp, as right now I don't see myself as living in the heavenly realms. I see myself living a life here on earth. When I die, then I go to heaven. We have the assurance that we go to heaven and not hell when we die. But since God is eternally past, present, and future, then our physical body lives here on earth, and our spirit lives with Christ in the heavenly realms. As such, we enjoy the blessings, resources, and power of the Holy Spirit if we choose to live in this spirit realm. Thus, eternal life starts the minute a believer accepts Christ on earth, not just when they die and go to heaven.
2. We were chosen before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless (verse 4). This verse is profound, as God knew who would be his children before he created the world. Both Genesis 1:1 and 2 Corinthians 5:17 underscore the creative work of God, and they emphasize that a born-again Christian is truly a new creation. From this, we can only conclude that God values the creation of new Christians more than the creation of the world. This is an amazing verse, actually. It also underscores how salvation is the work of God. We respond to his love, where God first loved us.
3. We were predestined to be adopted sons of God (verse 5). The verse goes on to say this pleases God. While living in the domain of the sinful nature and Satan, before knowing Christ, we were orphans, and cut off from God. He rescued us and adopted us as sons.
4. God freely gave us his glorious grace through Jesus (verse 6). As mentioned in the previous post, this shows how grace is a free gift of God, and we can do nothing to earn it. This verse alone should put to death any legalistic thinking or works-based salvation mentality. Grace may be free, but it isn't cheap, as it cost Jesus the cross.
5. We have forgiveness of sins and redemption through the blood of Jesus (verse 7). Redemption means for an owner to buy back what originally was rightfully his, but had earlier been sold off. From the context of these verses, it is clear that God originally created us when he created the world in Genesis, but we were sold off to the domain of sin and Satan. When Jesus came to die on the cross as a substitute for our sinful nature, and we accepted Christ by faith and receive his Holy Spirit to live in us, then we essentially became born-again believers. This is what redemption means. God made us, we were lost to sin, but he purchased us back through the blood of Jesus.
6. We have access to God's wisdom and understanding through his grace (verse 8). Before I was saved I thought I was pretty wise for a person in my early 20s, but human wisdom has nothing to do with God's wisdom. No matter how "wise" a person may be, we all need God's wisdom. There is another verse in Corinthians somewhere that talks about the wisdom from above and the wisdom from below.
7. The seal of the Holy Spirit. The following verses go on to show how God's Holy Spirit indwelling in believers is a down payment of what is to come when the "times have reached their fulfillment", which is something that of course I will be discussing in more detail on this blog. The context here is that Christ promised us the Holy Spirit living in us until that time, so that while we live on earth, we know that God lives in us wherever we are.
Paul's letter outlines some of the most profound blessings that a believer can experience if they put their trust in Christ. This sets the tone for the rest of the book of Ephesians.
You can see how absolutely critical it is for a believer to understand these blessings, and to appropriate them, as what it means to be in Christ. This is the foundation of the Christian identity, for the person to say these things with confidence:
-- "I know I am a child of God"
-- "I know that God loves me since before the creation of the world"
-- "I know I am raised in the heavenly realms with Christ"
-- "I know I am forgiven by the blood of Jesus."
-- "I know I am adopted into God's family."
-- "I know that the Holy Spirit lives in me and guides me in all truth."
-- "I know I have direct access to the throne of grace"
When I was younger, my family often chastised me for not knowing my earthly identity, or a clear sense of who I was in terms of personality traits. The so-called solution was to "know thyself" or to become familiar with my identity.
Self-knowledge by itself is futile, because we can't ever know ourselves if we are lost without Christ. The last few posts have indicated how lost we are without Christ, being controlled by the sinful nature and by Satan, enslaved to sin, and subject to God's wrath. Living under the power of sin, we are unable to recognize this, nor escape from this bondage. Making claims that "I am a good person, I'm not a sinner, I'm not as bad as Hitler," etc. etc. is also a sin because the Bible clearly says that if we claim we have no sin, then we make God out to be a liar.
The only identity is the identity in Christ, as outlined by the above blessings in this post.
The next post I want to move away from individualism, and focus more on our corporate identity, that of the body of believers in Christ.
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